1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a joint connector provided in a wiring harness for vehicle and configured to connect various wires such as a plurality of ground wires included in this wiring harness to a predetermined connection section in a vehicle, and an assembling method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-60522 discloses a ground joint connector for collectively connecting a plurality of ground wires included in a wiring harness for vehicle to a connection section of a vehicle. This ground joint connector includes a plurality of wire terminals to be mounted on ends of the respective ground wires, a conductor, and a connector housing for holding these wire terminals and conductor. The conductor includes a plurality of wire-side terminal portions to which the respective wire terminals are fitted in a terminal fitting direction, and a ground-side terminal portion to be connected to a ground section in a state fixed on a wall surface of a vehicle body. Each wire-side terminal portion is substantially perpendicular to the terminal fitting direction. Further, the respective wire-side terminal portions are integrally connected to the ground-side terminal portion while being arranged in a direction substantially parallel to the wall surface. A plurality of openings are formed on each of the front and rear surfaces of the connector housing. A plurality of wire-side terminal portions of the conductor are respectively inserted into the front openings. A plurality of wire terminals are inserted into the rear openings. Each wire terminal is fitted to the wire-side terminal portion of the conductor in the connector housing.
In the case of the joint connector as disclosed in the above Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-60522, a plurality of wire terminals mounted on the ends of the respective ground wires are fitted to the wire-side terminal portions of the conductor in the connector housing. In this state, the wire terminals are locked by movable pieces such as locking lances provided in the connector housing and movements of the locking lances are restrained by a retainer. In this way, the wire terminals are doubly locked.
The ground joint connector as described above may be required to have a waterproof function depending on a mounting position. However, in the ground joint connector as described in the above Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-60522, clearances between the front openings and the wire-side terminal portions and those between the rear openings and the wire terminals are exposed to the outside of the connector housing. Thus, such a ground joint connector is not suitable as a waterproof connector.
Contrary to this, the use of a conventional general waterproof connector as a joint connector has problems that the joint connector becomes larger and complicated and manufacturing cost of the joint connector increases.
In addition, in the ground joint connector as described in the above Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-60522, the retainer for doubly locking the wire terminals is provided movably on the outer peripheral surface of the connector housing. This makes it more difficult to waterproof the interior of the connector housing.
In view of such a situation, the present invention aims to provide a joint connector and an assembling method thereof capable of simultaneously achieving waterproofing and double locking.